Former South Jersey HS, club coach Schlesinger named girls’ coach at Wissahickon

David Schlesinger, the former head girls’ lacrosse coach at Eastern Regional (N.J.) and co-director of the highly successful South Jersey Select club, has been named head girls’ coach at Wissahickon.

David Schlesinger

Schlesinger posted a 22-15 mark in his two years at Eastern after serving as an assistant coach at Rancocas Valley for three years.

Schlesinger’s roots are in the Philly suburbs; he is a 1976 Harriton graduate. He played three years at Colgate.

He began coaching girls’ youth lacrosse in the early 2000s and eventually became a coach with South Jersey Select in 2008 before becoming a director. The last four years Schlesinger served as the regional chair for the Women’s National Tournament.

At Wissahickon he takes over for Chelsea Rosiek, who left after one year. She accepted the job at Chestnut Hill College.

Schlesinger, who had a successful career as a banking executive, was searching for a program with potential but also one with a strong community support system.

“I love coaching and it is very important for me to give back and be in an environment where I can contribute to the game,’ he said. “I want to help girls fall in love with the game and help give them collegiate opportunities or the understanding of what opportunities there are.

“Wissahickon has a great community and the youth program is very strong. Lots of the kids are lost to private and Catholic schools and there also has been a fair amount of turnover in the coaching staff the last few years.

“This is a neat opportunity to come in and establish some stability and teach them a lot about lacrosse. So far the feedback from the kids is tremendous. They have great attitudes and the parents are welcoming.”

Schlesinger has a team with a fair amount of returnees, including senior attack Laura Frankenfield (signed with Boston College, Honorable Mention All-American last year) and junior attack Zoe Gomez (committed to Hofstra).

Schlesinger’s goal is to teach fundamentals and help the Trojans realize their potential.
“I want to teach the game the right way and foster a love of the game,” he said. “It’s not only about this year. The finite goal is to advance beyond the first round of the (District 1) tournament.”

Schlesinger said teamwork is the key to winning against good competition.

“If you teach them to play the right way and they get comfortable enough with their skills, eventually the ball ends up in stick of players like Laura,” he said. “We’ve got to make everyone dangerous in the offensive zone.

“If you don’t do that going against good enough teams, a coach can stop one great player or even two. They can’t stop seven good players.”